Dissected: All-New 2014 Lexus IS

About Face: The IS sedan adopts the new Lexus look, new Lexus priorities.

The new IS uses a scaled-down version of the GS’s basic architecture. Against the previous IS, it’s 3.4 inches longer, 0.4 inch wider, and 0.2 inch taller. Significantly, its wheelbase grew 2.7 inches, netting meaningful boosts in space for both people and stuff. More size means more weight, though, and the IS has gained nearly 200 pounds compared with the outgoing car.

Last year’s basic control-arm front suspension carries over, but engineers stiffened the anti-roll bar by 20 percent and reduced spring rates, aiming to better balance comfort and reflexes. (This combination of tweaks was also part of the IS F’s 2011 mid-cycle transformation.) A new, compact multi­link rear suspension is inspired by the GS’s and minimizes intrusion into the trunk. As with the old car, the next IS will offer a Drive Mode selector with three (IS250) or four (IS350) drivetrain and ­suspension settings. Electrically assisted power steering, also derived from the GS, goes into all IS versions, but Lexus’s variable-ratio system is available only on the IS350. F Sport models such as the one ­pictured here get firmer suspension and steering tuning.

interior

Lexus’s rhetoric about sportier products is perhaps no more evident than inside the new IS, where an LED instrument panel gets inspiration from the just-discontinued LFA. As with the LFA, the IS has an adaptive center gauge, although the tach on this one doesn’t go to 10,000 rpm, sadly. A redesigned driver’s seat sits lower than in the previous car, and the steering wheel telescopes farther to allow a wider range of drivers to find their perfect seating positions. With the wheelbase stretch allotted mostly to the rear, and with thinner front seats, back-seat passengers will be more comfortable. Additional space and increasingly driver-oriented cockpits intrigue us, but Lexus’s boast of touch-sensitive HVAC controls has us shuddering with thoughts of the frustrating consoles already in Fords and Cadillacs.

from the driver's seat

While you’ll wait until midyear to drive the new IS, we’ve already been out for a brief spin in a prototype. We came away with hope. This IS feels as if it has matured in every aspect. It’s a little less raw than the old car, but its limits feel higher and better defined. There’s still some sportiness left to eke out, though. We’re rooting for Mr. Toyoda.